Fourlis expects to open its first outlet in Bulgaria by the third quarter of 2011, Athens-based newspaper Imiresia quoted the company's chairman Vasilios Fourlis as saying at the opening of a store in northern Greece.

At the ground-breaking ceremony in Sofia in June, Fourlis said it will invest 50 million Euro to build the first IKEA store in Bulgaria.

Fourlis launched sales of IKEA products in Greece in 2001. The sales of the Swedish brand currently account for nearly half of Fourlis's revenue.